We have tons of hiking, fishing, and hunting in the area. We have several CSAs, beef and pork farms, and other options for natural foods. We also have very similar grocery stores with Walmart, Winco, & Albertsons along with Smith’s and Fred Meyer owned by Kroger which are similar to Raley’s/Bel Air. We have a local market that sources much of the products from local farmers within about a 200 mile range.

Pocatello is a slower paced town. Idaho Falls is approximately a similar population, but being that it’s more of a “port town” that many of the smaller areas drive to so there are far more stores and traffic. Personally, Idaho Falls is overwhelming to me after growing up in Yuba City. Some of the major employers there are East Idaho Regional Medical Center (EIRMC), INL (Idaho National Laboratories), and Melaleuca that I’m aware of this far. INL has tons of employees both here in Pocatello and Idaho Falls as well as the surrounding areas. Our next door neighbor works for INL and he simply drives his car 1/2 mile down the hill and rides the company bus to work. He loves to mountain bike which Pocatello afforded him and Idaho Falls did not. We have friends in Idaho Falls who work at EIRMC.

There is a wonderfully supportive disability community. One friend here has a daughter with DS and helps with the annual Buddy Walk. We have great options for therapy as well. My kids go to Bloom for therapy and because it’s located in a home they look forward to it. It is my understanding that Idaho also has a very generous therapy budget allocation program for needed therapies for Medicaid and Katie Beckett. We haven’t applied, but are toying with the idea. I was informed last week by one parent that she has a therapy budget for her ASD kid of over $14k.

As far as cost of living house prices are much cheaper than CA. Electric and gas rarely hit over $100 combined here (they are billed separately) and our house is 4300sq ft. Groceries are about the same depending your shopping preferences.

Please ask any specific questions you are hoping to find here and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability. I do know for the government jobs at INL, FBI, Dept of Forestry, BLM, Bureau of Indian Affairs you have to tailor your resume to each individual job posting essentially rewording each of the job postings and then adding how your past experiences fulfill each of the listed requirements. If you do that you should have no issues landing an interview for any of the government agencies. We are about 10 miles south of Ft. Hall Indian Reservation of the Bannock and Shoshone Indian Nations so Bureau of Indian Affairs which may also be Dept of the Interior typically has multiple job opportunities. We are surrounded by Bureau of Land Management lands so they also typically have multiple job opportunities. Same with Dept of Forestry. The FBI is building a brand new building which is supposed to be opening up 200-400 new jobs in town. They have their own website for job postings, but the others should all be on usajobs.gov INL is primarily government contracting jobs so they have their own website as well.

I don’t know what line of work your hubby is in, but I do know that the contracting company that works for my husband’s employer is looking for knowledgeable IT people. I believe they might also pay for relocation.USAJOBS - The Federal Government's official employment siteSearch and apply for federal jobs. Learn about unique hiring paths for veterans, students and graduates, individuals with a disability, and more.usajobs.gov4:06pm That is great info ~ thanks! My husband is a paramedic and is definitely interested in the Medical Centers. He also is asking....

-- is raw milk allowed?-- are they forcing vaccinations?-- what's the Muslim population like?-- what's the homeschool community like?

I appreciate your info. Thanks for the help! As we are looking into things, I'll let you know what other questions we come up with.

Yes, raw milk is legal $2~$5 a 1/2 gallon depending where you get it. Some farms have glass bottle deposits you get back when returning the bottles. You can choose to pick up from one of the multiple farms or there is a co-op or Nel’s Bi-lo carries multiple farms. In Idaho Falls Reed’s Dairy has raw milk, but it’s not grassfed.

No forced vaccination. In fact they’ve never batted an eye about my kids not being vaccinated. Same with my ER nurse friends who don’t vaccinate in Idaho Falls. We have parental rights laws and protection of “faith based healing”.

There are a handful of Muslims. There are supposed to be more near Boise. We have seen a few associated with the college, but it’s primarily a white Mormon community. I’d say that the population is probably 70-80% white conservative Mormons with maybe 10-15% Christians and 10% Chinese, Hispanic, and other nationalities. Anyone who isn’t white sticks out like a sore thumb because you rarely see them. Chinese is probably the dominant minority in the area followed by Hispanics.

The homeschool community is fantastic! We have monthly roller skate outing at Deleta, monthly trampoline jump place days at Geronimo’s, there are two homeschool groups in town, & weekly nature hikes. Classical Conversations is starting a local chapter this fall. Currently there is only one in Idaho Falls. There is a co-op in town, Freedom Scholars, and one in Blackfoot 23 miles north. One of the local churches the pastor homeschools his 4 children.

I’m not sure if the paramedics are employed by the medical center or by Bannock County or the fire department. I believe when my son had to be transported via ambulance we paid the fire department for the ambulance bill.

Pocatello is in Bannock County. Idaho Falls is in Bonneville County

Did you really mean $2 - $5 per 1/2 gallon of RAW milk? We pay $15/gal!

YesWe pay $7/gal from Nel’s.David is asking if you have any idea why the FBI is setting up an office there.

They have a headquarters server facility here. It’s who hubby works for. Power is super cheap and it keeps costs down.It’s been here for several decades. They are expanding because congress shut down the bill to upgrade the facilities in Virginia/DC. They are also supposed to be relocating that VA/DC facility to Alabama.Thank you so much! You're so helpful.

No problem. If I don’t know the answer I can probably find it for you It’s definitely my favorite place of all the places I’ve ever visited or lived. The FBI facility here does not have agents or do anything law enforcement wise. That’s all handled in Boise which was a bonus because it took hubby off SWAT They just run all the computer systems from here. It’s all IT. No databases or anything.

How about military bases?How much snow do you guys get? And how hot are the summers?

There is an Army National Guard about 1/4 mile from the house. An Army Reserve Center next to the FBI. Mountain Home AFB is outside of Boise.

We average 7”-15” a year in Pocatello. I think Idaho Falls is similar, but higher. Last year was a 25 year record of snow with around 52”. Up until this storm we just had the year total had been under an inch. However, we live up on the mountain about 400ft in elevation above town so we get more than average. The south of town called the “Mink Creek Area” gets more and beyond that is the Pebble Beach Ski Resort which gets even more.

The highest it’s gotten in the summer is 93, but usually averages in the 80s. Town is at around 4300ft and we live at almost 4800.Awesome. David is now giddy to check it out. LOL! I am too, but more than anything I'm just ready to get out of CA.

Lol! It’s really an awesome place. SE Idaho is on the top 10 or 25 places to raise a family. Due to the high Mormon community there are tons of children’s activities available. We are 3 blocks from a fishing/swimming pond and the kids love to fish there. Soccer is huge as well.

I don’t blame you being ready to get out of CA. Hubby couldn’t get out fast enough. SB277 was what gave him the green light on my end.And now they are pushing AB2756. It's just gonna get worse. Not to mention the fact that we just can't get by on David's income here. We need to make a move in the best interest of our family.

Most definitely!We have constitutional concealed and open carry 2A laws. No waiting periods or clip limits. It’s not uncommon to walk into any store and see 5 or more people armed. It would totally catch me off guard when we got here, but it’s normal now and half the time I simply don’t notice.When I tell David that info he'll probably tell me to start packing today.